A user can interact with an interface provided by an electronic device, such as a personal computer through a touch-sensitive input device such as a trackpad or touch screen. For example, a personal computer can receive a command from a trackpad when an object comes into contact with the trackpad and in response, the personal computer can perform a task, such as modifying a user interface element.
In some examples, a touch-sensitive input device can include a force sensor to provide force information to an electronic device that further characterizes a touch input event. For example, some input devices can estimate an amount of force applied during a touch event, and can relay that information to an electronic device. The electronic device may then interpret the force information from the force sensor as a command, performing different tasks in response to different magnitudes of applied force.
In many cases, however, force information provided by a force sensor that is associated with a conventional touch-sensitive input device may become unreliably imprecise or inaccurate if the input device receives more than one force at the same time. For example, if a user rests his or her wrist at one location while applying a force with a finger at another location, the touch-sensitive input device may not accurately register the force applied by the user's finger. In these and other examples, a user may become confused or frustrated when an electronic device does not respond to a force input in the manner the user expects.
Accordingly, there may be a present need for an improved force-sensitive input device capable to detect and relay a proportional force applied at more than one contact location.